Country Kids from Coombe Mill

Posted on September 27th, 2013

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Forest Adventures

After spending Friday at The Mad Blog Awards in London and Saturday on a busy changeover where the kids all work too I was keen to have some relaxation and country time with the children on Sunday. We headed out with some plastic bags to see what treasures we could find in the woods through the farm. I have seen some lovely posts on Country Kids with families enjoying the autumn finds of conkers, helicopters, blackberries and mushrooms and I couldn’t wait for us to do the same. Alistair and Felix were helping Dad round by the goat field so I left them to it while the triplets, Theo and I set off past them on our forest hunt.

A little fun jumping the stile into the woods from our deer field:

Then we were all eyes peeled to see what we could find. Acorns, hazelnuts, and elderflower were common place and what I think was a sloe and some hawthorn berries.

It wasn’t long before they began to find some mushrooms and toadstools. Not being sure which was which I suggested we kept a bag of these fungi separately to look up when we were home. Some of them were really fascinating in look and feel and the children were quite intrigued and cautious; it took some persuading them they wouldn’t poison themselves so long as they didn’t lick their fingers or rub their eyes after touching them.

Time for some Fun

The bags were all collected together and the children headed to help each other climb a tree. I captured a little video of this one as I was so delighted at the way they pulled together as a team to help each other up. Theo is so often my middle child who can struggle to find his voice as the youngest of the older three and not one of the triplets. Here he shows his caring side and some leadership skills in organising the tree climbing and looking out for his siblings.

I love seeing them enjoying the woods like this and equally each other’s company.

How could I refuse them a game of 40 40 in? I can never run as fast as them and end up “it” most of the time, but it is a delight to see them enjoying such a simple game so much and wanting me to play with them. I know it won’t last forever so I’m making the most of it while they are still young enough.

Sadly our fun ended with an injury. Guy tripped over one of the massive granite outcrops and smashed his knee hard. Thankfully it was only a bruise and the others rallied round to help him homeward.

Catching up with the workers they free loaded a lift back on the trailer, though Jed did his best to try and fall out!

Back at home we examined our finds. The gruesome fungi are what appealed most and they used an old piece of board to paint up a collage of forest dangers. It was a lovely crafty activity to end our day.

If you fancy exploring in the woods too The Forestry Commission have a great page on Autumn at the moment encouraging you to get out and see what you can find at your local woods with a handy identification page to help you understand what you find.

Joining in with Country Kids

Autumn is a lovely time of year to be outdoors with children, no need to worry about sun cream, plenty of leaves to play in, catch or collect and make into a craft activity. I do hope you will join me in linking up some of your autumnal adventures here on the linky. From the garden to the park, the beach to the woods, please grab the badge and share some outdoor fun ideas. Remember to check out some of the other great posts too, it could be your inspiration for next week.

A few I loved last week:

Diary of the Evans Crittens show how to combine a reflective day of churchyard learning with pure fun at the beach that suited everyone.

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Coombe Mill

“Tales from the farmers wife” shares the funny and interesting happenings on our lovely holiday farm with Farmer Nick and our 6 children. A behind the scenes look on balancing family, farming, the holiday business and cooking for all.

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